the long and short of it

five days into the new year and i can already check off one of my resolutions - do something new with my hair! take that 2012! as you can see in these poorly lit photo booth shots, my hair was once obscenely long and now it is uber short! the shortest it's been since before the millennium in fact. so far, i'm really diggin' it. i feel a little sassier. and a little more like my preschool self. jimmy dunn fell to his knees when he saw (his first words were - "OH MY GOD-WHAT!"). liz told me i look like michelle obama. i'm digging this fresh cut - it really feels like a new year.

bring it on 2012

i see you 2012. sneaking in. threatening to be the last year blah blah. i accept your challenge and i promise that i shall see to it, that this year rocks beyond all reasonable expectations. here's what i would like to accomplish in the upcoming year:

• go on a new england road trip. eat a lot of food. see a lot of greenery.
  
• do something different with my hair. i'm thinking shorter.
  
• build a tee pee. because the great place needs a new fort. and just in case i can't find anywhere to live after graduation.
  
• graduate college. unless something goes insanely wrong, i think this one might be a freebie.
  
• fix up my etsy. if at first you don't succeed, make it your resolution again.
  
• go to chicago. see what the fuss is about.
  
• learn three full songs on the ukulele. note to self: tune uke first.
  
• more karaoke, more wigs, more theme parties. duh
• throw a dinner party. of the grown-up food variety.
  
• knit a sweater. i got the yarn. i got the skills. i got the power.
• go to more concerts. you're in philadelphia for pete's sake. even if it's bands you don't know all that well. you need to find new music girlfran!
• learn a few conversational words in a foreign language. listen to that french tape in your car. or hit up your cousin abby for her old german flashcards.
  
• LIVE IN THE MOMENT. for pete's sake. your worrywart grandpa is starting to worry about how much you worry. just stop planning and pooping your pants every time a detail isn't worked out or you don't know what you're eating for breakfast in three weeks. take a breather and remember how lucky you are to have so many good people in your life and how fortunate you have been thus far. remember that time you went to the ted leo concert? that was unplanned! or going bar hopping with australian santa in paris? also unplanned! i don't want you to go against your natural ways, but dude. just simmer more this year and appreciate all the other dudes around you and how bright their smiles are/shiny their hairs are/wonderful their jokes are.
  

2011 was definitely a year

a lot a lot happened. but i feel like it mostly happened at the beginning of the year, so it all seems like it's been around forever. a year is still a long time in my opinion. there's that whole thing about time flying by as you get older and blah blah but nope. not for this chickadee. a year is still a significant amount of time. in 2011 i -

• landed my dream internship, which turned into a summer job, which is turning into a real deal grown-up pants job. i get to work with amazing people on super fun projects in a city i've grown extremely fond of. hopefully, my future there will consist of many more hot glue gun-wielding days, improved techy skills, and greater knowledge of programming geared towards toddlers.
  
• did an independent study
  
• wrote a column about food for temple news both semesters
• painted a table in my backyard
• lived with beautiful ladies in a beautiful home. great place forever!
• hosted the best theme parties in the 215, including ellis island, unbirthday, rumspringa, neon indian, pun-party, under the sea, tupperware, and viva las vegas.
  
• said good bye to the harry potter saga in style, with a final hoo-rah in the parking lot before the last movie. costumes & butterbeer cupcakes & sparklers helped us with the send off.
  
• went to georgia for my cousin's wedding
• was introduced to buffy and adventure time and countless other shows by mikeyaz.
  
• stressed an insane amount about the future. to a sometimes absurd level. was repeatedly calmed down by my mom.
  
• worked a full time 9-5 job over the summer and discovered just how draining it can be. went home most days and fell asleep in my room watching cheers.
• performed with my amazing improv team asteroid. did an amazing b-movie for halloween. performed in new york as part of the del close marathon.
  
• acted as head writer for Temple Smash for the fall semester. worked really hard with a group of people i love to make that show happen.
  
• saw Sufjan Stevens in concert
  
• went to the jazz age lawn party on governer's island. tried to dance with mixed success.
  
• shopped for my clothing exclusively at second hand shops, with great success.
  
• turned 21 and enjoyed being able to go out and partake in new social experiences. saint patrick's day parade, harrisburg summer 717 reunion, and rebel bingo were all highlights.
  
• dated an amazing boy. made frequent trips to new york, ate a million good foods, watched a million good shows, had a million good conversations.
  

i originally thought of this as a really stressful year, one that i was glad to see leaving. i worked a lot and panicked a lot about what was going to happen after school - to myself, to my friends, to my relationships, to life in general. but looking over this list, so many good things happened in the midst of all that worrying. so many good dressing-up opportunities! so many good people! that list is full of things i love doing and i am incredibly lucky to be able to do them all. 2011, imma chalk you up as an alright year.

happy zoo year

see what i did there?

photos from our november trip to the philadephia zoo, courtesy of the generous james dunn's membership. he went off to sktech animals while mikeyaz and i explored. hope you dudes all had a wild (ho ho! another funny!) new years eve.

puzzling

i haven't even thought about puzzles in years. i was never huge into them as a kid and i have literally erased their existence from my mind in the time since. but recently, my improv team has been super into doing puzzles. it must have rubbed off on me and last tuesday, i found myself wandering in to the puzzle section of salvation army. i picked up a sweet cat quilt puzzle (550 pieces, unopened) and then coaxed my friends into completing it with me. i tried to do it solo but just turning all the pieces over was daunting. my friends were reluctant at first, but came around in time with the help of some red wine. there's something magnetic about puzzles - like humans have this innate need to organize and put things together. we all had very specific, very different puzzle skill sets as well. matt and i were good at organizing pieces by pattern, anna was good at finding individual pieces, and ellen mastered the border. by the end of the puzzle we were all pretty giddy, high-fiving over piece placement and screeching when we got close to finishing. there was some pretty serious puzzle-gasming going on. now that it's over, i'm itching to start a new one. i had to put the cat quilt back in the box but i tried to keep it as intact as possible. because who wants to see all that hard work get broken apart?

eating with mike yaz

all photos from meals i've shared with mikeyaz, my favorite eating partner. we live the high life.

ellis island party

finally. the ellis island party. it's a theme that's been rolling around my head for the past few years and we finally made it happen. we strung up lights, bunting made of old national geographics, and a laundry line. angela's ashes played on repeat all night (possibly the worst party movie of all time) and we danced to the titanic soundtrack. we put tea lights in old jars around the dining room and all the guests drank the beverage of their ancestor's choice. lots of babushkas and suspenders and shawls. lots of dancing and sing-a-longs. so much love for the great place ladies.